Another year has passed and it is time to reflect back on 2023. In many ways it was a terrific year for the PRR Panhandle Division with significant accomplishments, serious forward progress, and noteworthy events.
- January 2023 saw the publication of my article "Handling Big Smoke" in the soon to be defunct (converted to annual publication from bi-monthly) O Scale Trains magazine. I installed a fan and constructed ventilation duct work in anticipation of my Open Hearth's excessive smoke production.
- In March, the Panhandle was the subject of an RPM (Railroad Prototype Modelers) Meet presentation held in Western Pennsylvania. During the talk, I was asked if I would consider converting the layout to 2-rail. I consider that the ultimate compliment for a 3-railer, especially coming from this set of very picky rivet counters.
- With April came another fun York meet. I also ended my employment at Hobby Express. While I really enjoyed working there and they wanted me to stay, the other demands on my time made stopping necessary.
- NMRA MCR (Keystone) Division 2 (my division) hosted the Mid-Central Regional Convention in early May. My clinic "Pour Me A River" described the process of constructing bench work, building scenery, and pouring the water of the Ohio River on the layout. The presentation was a recap of the 6-part magazine series of the same name published July 2021 - August 2022. It was well received and as part of the layout tour, the Panhandle had over 30 visitors and numerous compliments. But the biggest thrill was introducing Bill Neale MMR as the keynote speaker at the banquet. Bill was perhaps the best known modeler of the Panhandle; his HO layout was well known with multiple appearances in NMRA calendars and model railroad planning publications. His knowledge, generosity, and friendship were of great value to me. Unfortunately, he passed away on December 28. He will be greatly missed.
- The rest of May, all of June, and most of July were taken up with the Weirton Steel Open Hearth building blitzkrieg. This effort had been underway, off and on, for the better part of 4 years. I seriously underestimated the effort need to complete it, and a very hard push was required to get it done for the end of July deadline.
- My deadline was the Steel Mill Modelers Special Interest Group (SMMSIG) annual meeting which was held July 27-29 in Pittsburgh. I really wanted to transport the model to the meet, but getting it safely up the stairs proved too much of a hurdle. Instead, I had to submit 3 photos to the modeling competition. Fortunately, the model won the Dean Freytag Award (photos). As you can imagine, I was over the moon at this development.
- In August work continued on the Open Hearth with the installation of walls and some electrical debugging. Track in the Weirton Steel Yard was completed in anticipation of moving the mill into its final position on the layout. Also, the paperwork needed for the model to be merit judged was finished. In the final count over 2,500 parts were incorporated into this scratch-built model which measures 72" long, 37" wide, and 34" tall (at the stacks). In September, it received a Merit Award, scoring 112 points out of 125.
- October brought yet another fabulous Eastern Division TCA meet in York. But with the help of my friend Price Bradshaw, it also brought on a 4 day frenzy of bench work construction. The Weirton peninsula of the layout was completed in this period, setting the stage for a new track laying effort. Shown below is the new peninsula with the Open Hearth in its final location on the layout.
- During November and December, track laying was the focus. The Weirton Steel Yard and the final pieces of the Staging Area were finished. Wiring of these sections is nearly complete.
- And to cap off the year, my article "The 'H' Fixture" appeared in the final bi-monthly issue of O Scale Trains magazine. It describes the research and construction of the telecommunications device shown below.
You can catch up with my layout building thread using this link:
https://ogrforum.com/topic/prr-panhandle-2-0
Please visit, follow, and like the topic. Since the earliest days of the OGR Forum (when posts were removed after 6 month runs due to lack of disk storage space), the Panhandle has had an estimated 250,000+ views. I am grateful to all of you who follow and comment on this build.
Your comments, questions, and observations are always welcome.
A happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year to everyone!
George
